Hawker Hurricane Part 1

Lifelike Decals, 1/48 scale

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Reviewed by Rodger Kelly

48-027 Hawker Hurricane Part 1 is the third sheet in the recent round of releases by the Japanese company Lifelike Decals.  It provides you with a varied mix of markings for four different machines a single Mk 1 a single Mk IIC and two very unusual Mk IIs.

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Thumbnail panels:

The individual options are:

• Mk 1 P3395 flown by Flight Lieutenant Arthur Clowes of 1 Squadron RAF from RAF Wittering in the October of 1940.  The machine is in dark green and dark earth over sky with a yellow banded black spinner.  Thankfully, this latter marking is suppled as a decal!

• Mk IIC BD983 flown by Squadron Leader James MacLachlan of 1 Squadron RAF from RAF Northolt between November 1941 and June 1942.  The aircraft is an overall in overall black (night?) scheme.

• Mk II PZ865 “The Last of the Many” flown by Group Captain Peter Townsend in the Kings Cup Air Race in 1950.  The machine is finished in overall “Royal Blue” with a gold spinner and gold civilian registration letters and a white 41 race number on a black circular background.

• Mk II PZ865 “The Last of the Many” again but this time the provided markings depict it as it was flown by Group Captain Peter Townsend in the 1951 National Air Race.  The machine is in the same scheme as the previous option but now wears gold 99 numerals in place of the white 41.

There is no indication as to who has printed the decals themselves but they are very well done indeed.  They are thin and have a minimum of carrier film surrounding even the tiniest stencil data item. 

The colours appear to be faithful to the originals too with the red being offered for the RAF version fin flashes and roundels being the darker type used by the RAF in WWII.  Comprehensive stencil data is provide on a smaller separate sheet and it includes the tiny round yellow propeller blade stencils.

The placement guide/information sheets are A-4 in size and provide colour illustrations of the left hand side of each option and applicable upper and lower plan views as well as a further generic four-view illustration to show stencil data placement.  Comprehensive notes are provided for each option and any ‘grey areas’ encountered in research for the sheet are clearly explained.  A list of the 11 references used to realise the sheet is included too.

The decal sheets (there are three of them in all – the main one containing the vast majority of markings, and two smaller ones carrying the stencil data and serials, and an even smaller one that carries the nose art and its white backgrounds for the first two options – and the placement guide/information sheets come packed in a clear plastic zip-loc bag.

I am impressed with sheet!  It provides you with first rate superbly printed decals and support material for four unusually marked Hurricanes that to my knowledge have not been presented as decals before.

Thanks to Keishiro Nagao of Lifelike Decals for the review sample.

Lifelike Decals are available by email at lifelike@eos.ocn.ne.jp or from

2-8-7-202, Kameari, Katsushika, Tokyo 125-0061, Japan
fax: +81-3-5680-6733